Scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth insists he is primed and ready to help England end their winless streak this weekend against Samoa, citing his regimented kicking game as an important weapon.
The experienced 31-year-old has been recalled to the squad by head coach Stuart Lancaster in the wake of consecutive defeats at the hands of world champions New Zealand and South Africa.
Lancaster’s side, who only missed out on the 2014 RBS 6 Nations title on points difference, are looking to end a disappointing run of results that has seen them lose their last five matches.
And Wigglesworth – who replaces Danny Care in the squad with Ben Youngs starting at no.9 – believes his experience kicking from hand can facilitate an England win.
“I feel pretty privileged to have been selected, knowing how good the other guys are,” said Wigglesworth. “As my first foot in the door I have just got to make sure that I give a good account of myself.
“I am an experienced guy in this group and I like to think I make the right decisions at the right times but equally the things Stuart wanted from me was a bit more ball playing off nine and support lines.
“I think I have worked on everything but obviously my kicking game, we exit and kick a lot at Saracens from nine, so I think that has helped.
“If I could take some responsibility that way or just try and be an influence on the team at the right time and if that’s to run, it’s to run and if that’s to kick, it’s to kick.”
Samoa will certainly be no pushovers with ten of their matchday squad playing their rugby in England, yet the Red Rose have won all of the six meetings between the two nations.
And Wigglesworth, who will be looking to add to his 14 caps, admits his side must look to assert their dominance early in what will be a great test.
“We know we will get the best of the Samoans on Saturday night and we know that it’s going to be good,” he added.
“They’ve got a lot of players who are used to playing in Europe, they have loads of quality, so we know that we have got a professional outfit coming to Twickenham wanting to win.
“We know we are going to have to nullify their strengths and impose our game on them.”
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